Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Lenten Reflection #6

Before I answer my last post's question about why we don't always love God despite good knowledge of the love he has for us, I want to touch on one more way love is not really a command, but a response. Pope Benedict makes a very good point when he says that when two people love each other, their wills start to become the same. I've noticed this in my marriage. My husband and I now like the same music (usually) like the same food (almost always), we have even grown into developing the same discipline for raising our children, and most importantly, we have influenced each other's spirituality so much that when I grow in my faith, my husband does also, and visa versa.

This idea of what happens when love matures was even recognized by antiquity with the saying, "Idem velle atque idem nolle" --to want the same thing, and to reject the same thing. So, when man increases in love for God, his will becomes God's will more and more until as Pope Benedict says, "God's will is no longer an alien will, something to be imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself."

Wow, that is mind blowing, isn't it? I will post the reflection I was going to do today for tomorrow. God Bless!

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